us, it
must be a matter of a day or two at the most till they succeeded. If
they only played with us--which is the cruel Indian way--we might
resist a little, but starvation would beat us down. Where were we to
get food, with the forests full of our subtle enemies? To sit still
would mean to wait upon death, and the waiting would not be long.

There was the chance, to be sure, that the Indians would be drawn off
in the advance towards the east. But here came in a worse anxiety. I
had come to get news to warn the Tidewater. That news I had got. The
mighty gathering which Shalah's eyes and mine had beheld in that upland
glen was the peril we had foreseen. What good were easy victories over
raiding Cherokees when this deadly host waited on the leash? I had no
doubt that the Cherokees were now broken. Stafford county would be full
of Nicholson's militia, and Lawrence's strong hand lay on the line of
the Borders. But what availed it? While Virginia was flattering herself
that she had repelled the savages, and the Rappahannock men were
notching their muskets with the tale of the dead, a wave was gathering
to sweep down the Pamunkey or the James, and break on the walls of
James Town. I did not think that Nicholson, forewarned and prepared,
could stem the torrent; and if it caught him unawares the proud
Tidewater would break like a rotten reed.

I had been sent to scout. Was I to be false to the word I had given,
and let any risk to myself or others deter me from taking back the
news? The Indian army tarried; why, I did not know--perhaps some mad
whim of their soothsayers, perhaps the device of a wise general; but at
any rate they tarried. If a war party could spend a night in baiting us
and slaying our horses, there could be no very instant orders for the
road. If this were so, a bold man might yet reach the Border line. At
that moment it seemed to me a madman's errand. Even if I slipped past
the watchers in the woods and the glens, the land between would be
strewn with fragments of the Cherokee host, and I had not the Indian
craft. But it was very seriously borne in upon me that 'twas my duty to
try. God might prosper a bold stroke, and in any case I should be true
to my trust.

But what of Elspeth? The thought of leaving her was pure torment. In
our hideous peril 'twas scarcely to be endured that one should go. I
told myself that if I reached the Border I could get help, but my heart
warned me that I lied. My news would